Book Review: The Exquisite Book of Paper Flowers

The Exquisite Book of Paper Flowers: A Guide to Making Unbelievably Realistic Paper Blooms by Livia Cetti, photographs by Addie Juell, pub. Stewart, Tabori and Chang (STC Craft), 2014.

When I was trying to review this book, my daughter kept stealing it away every time I put it down.  Now she's pestering me to take her to buy supplies to make flowers.  

They're mostly inexpensive (like tissue paper and floral tape) and tools we can use for other crafts (like a glue gun and fringing shears), so I don't mind.  Besides, I love these flowers as much as she does!

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Livia's calm, supportive tone carries from the introduction  through the instructions as she explains how to create each bloom.  For the delicate muscari,  tissue paper is wrapped around a pencil to form the blossoms.  Other flowers have pointed or shaggy petals. The Matilija poppy (below, center photo) is over a foot in diameter.

I don't have room to feature all the lovely creations here. The book's image gallery has a few more, but still no orchids or lilies, cactus flowers or foxgloves, fritillaria or filler fluff. There are instructions for all these in the book, using surprisingly simple techniques.

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Part 1 covers the basics of flower making: tools, materials, and techniques.  After an overview of paper types and an explanation of grain, this section includes photo tutorials of techniques such as dip-dyeing, tie-dyeing, painting, and taping.

Part 2 gives step-by-step instructions for making 26 different flowers, and Part 3 contains 18 project ideas for mobiles, head wreaths, cake decorations, and other arrangements to wear or display.  Throughout, Livia directs us toward achieving a natural look, which usually coincides with the least fussy method.

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Addie Juell's photography is perfect. Using backdrops of paper (what else?), she captures the essence of each individual species. The projects are mostly easy, but some require practice and others require stamina. This gorgeous book is a wonderful resource for anyone who likes to smarten gifts, cakes, houses, hair, or life in general with pretty little touches.  

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Disclosure:  Stewart, Tabori & Chang sent Kangath a free copy of this book for review.  Kangath was not compensated for the preceding review.  All opinions expressed in the review are solely the blog author's.